In this study, processing LiDAR data in LAS format required a significant amount of time to ensure the data was useful for analysis. The aspect and height of the roofs of residential buildings were also essential to achieving a reasonable final estimation of potential power production. Based on this analysis, my study area in Cloverdale, City of Surrey, has a great potential to generate rooftop solar power system.

According to BC Hydro, the average power usage for a household is only around 900 kWh per month, which can well be supported by the energy generated by solar panels as calculated in this study. I hope this analysis can contribute to uncovering the potential of developing solar energy in a community, and informing homeowners the best location to install solar panels. Ultimately, this can assist decision making at the individual and community level to build a sustainable city.

Limitations:

Quantifying rooftop solar power is a very complex process. It involves multiple variables that are hard to be measured.

First, vegetation plays a significant role in amount of radiation received at the rooftop level of a building. Shadow from trees, tall buildings nearby, or rooftop obstacles such as chimneys can reduce the amount of solar radiation receive on roofs, thus lowering the accuracy of solar power generation potential. As shown in the figure below, theoretically the south-facing slope of the rooftop could receive some solar radiation. Unfortunately, there are tall trees locating on the south side of the houses that may block some, if not all solar radiation possible. If a large area of the roof is shaded, the value of installing solar panels on that roof is greatly reduced. Those area can be impractical to have solar panels even though the potential amount of solar radiation is ideal for energy generation. Therefore, the suitability of installing solar panels is highly dependent on the conditions around each building. However, including the effect of vegetation requires a detailed measurement of the zenith angle for every building, which is out of the scope of this project. Due to the complexity of measure the effect of vegetation, it was not taken into account into this analysis. It is nonetheless crucial to recognize the importance of this factor.

Another factor that may undermine the feasibility of the result is weather. Although I had selected different Diffuse Model Types for summer and winter – UNIFORM SKY model for clearer sky in the Summer and STANDARD OVERCAST SKY model for rainy Winter— there were inevitability daily variations that could affect the final result. This project aims to provide a general picture of the rooftop solar radiation potential, so the effect of minor unpredictability of weather is minimal.

 

Lastly, the tilt of the solar panel is vital. According to the Municipality database of photovoltaic (PV) potential and insolation done by National Resources Canada, a sun-tracking surface orientation of solar panel is optimal for achieving the best result. Yet, this relied on the preference of homeowners, so it cannot be directly examine in this project.